All for the Money
by CapitalCheerios
Summary: Lucy needed a job, and fast. The offer seemed easy enough- find out as much information about Natsu Dragneel as possible, and earn 10,000 for anything useful along the way. Not to mention, a 50,000 bonus for completing the job. But will morals, or feelings, get in the way of this once-in-a-lifetime offer? NaLu, AU. [title subject to change]


**Pairing: Nalu storyline, but other couples will be mentioned in passing (Gruvia, Gajevy, Jerza, + more)**

**Rating: T, but I might up it to M. We'll see.**

**Summary: Down on her luck Lucy receives the offer of a lifetime. The job is simple and easy- find out as much information about Natsu Dragneel as possible. No questions asked, no feelings hurt... until morals (and maybe even feelings?) get in the way.**

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**Chapter One**

An Offer You Can't Refuse

The clacking of heels was the only noise in the room that brought Lucy any reprieve from the deafening silence that was plaguing the small office. She chewed on her lips as her eyes surveyed the space in attempt to soothe her nerves. Her most interesting finds were a framed photo on the shelf adjacent to the computer setup on the desk, a large gold chain housing a cross, a heart, and a locket hanging from the knob of a cabinet door, and a coffee cup with words running across the front that proclaimed "**MY WIFE'S THE BOSS.**" Lucy exhaled a small bit of air through her nose- the feigned innocence of the room made her laugh. If she were to walk into this room and not know the business that went on inside, its innocuous presence would have most likely fooled her. The framed photo would make her think of a sweet and cozy home life; the hanging cross would remind her of the comfort of a church from her childhood and her mother's habitual praying; the mug would have brought a bout of genuine laughter to her lips and a desire to question the owner of it about his life.

But she knew, make no mistake, that this meeting was anything but charming and light.

When the office door opened behind her, Lucy had to resist the urge to jolt in surprise. The whole idea of doing what she was about to do felt wrong- she felt dirty, felt sick to her stomach. She watched him thoughtfully as he circled back behind his desk, his hand clamping at the plush chair before pulling it out harshly and plopping himself in it.

"Your background check went smoothly," his brown eyes were more focused on the now lit-up computer screen than they were on her open file splayed across his desk, "No red flags."

Lucy chuckled, "Well, I should hope so." She thought about making a joke, like 'So you didn't find out I robbed a candy store last week?' or 'So you didn't see me on the FBI's Most Wanted List?' She half-smiled at her own cheesy thoughts before sighing. She just didn't have the energy for pleasantries. _God, when was the last time I got a full night's sleep?_

"We have a couple of open jobs right now," he finally turned back towards her. Lucy focused hard, so as to not twitch her gaze back and forth between his eyes and the giant tattoo that covered the majority of one hemisphere of his face. It was damn distracting. He stood up and grabbed some files out of his cabinet before seating himself again and dragging a hand over his face roughly, "We'd like to get you started as soon as possible. We've been getting a crazy amount of requests lately."

Lucy glanced down at the manilla folders placed in front of her before moving her eyes back up again. _Shady shit never sleeps either, I guess_. She pushed her thoughts aside before stating, "I'm pretty flexible right now." _More like pretty jobless,_ "What's the best bet you have going? I'll take pretty much anything."

Lucy knew she didn't have to worry about formalities; after all, this wasn't a formal business. It was a place for people to make quick cash on odd (and usually dangerous or shady or malicious or all of the above) jobs. Sitting in the prime office, however, Lucy felt that her internal pangs of haughtiness and sanctimoniousness were pretty hypocritical.

The blue-haired man in front of her was quiet for a moment. He seemed deep in thought, and his eyes seemed to be analyzing both her and her open file simultaneously. _Should I be trying to better market myself right now?_ Lucy suddenly sat up straighter. "I think I have a good suggestion," he reached into a drawer within his desk, pulling out a laminated piece of paper with someone's photo attached to it, "This job has been up in the air for a while. Great rewards though. The client wants as much information on this kid as possible. We're thinking he's itchin' to write an expose or something like that, but..." the man leaned back in his chair before revealing, "Frankly, I really couldn't care less. Point is, the client's willing to pay big money."

Lucy glanced down at a photo with a name and biography printed on one side; the details were both strangely specific yet somewhat distant. The kid's daily routine was almost completely included, and yet his date of birth was omitted, the section where the date would have been written left blank. Lucy flipped the single page over, finding that the back was all of the client's contact information, neatly typed out and completed for her to take in. Lucy pushed the hair that had fallen into her face back before asking the key question, "How much?"

Jellal, as the man had introduced himself to be earlier, gave a small laugh, "Eyes on the prize, right? You'd be working directly with the client to reveal any information you find out about your subject," Jellal leaned forward to fold his hands over the desk before nodding appreciatively, "He's willing to pay ten for anything that proves useful or interesting."

Lucy's brows furrowed... $10? That seemed a little cheap to her- she figured at least $50 per secret. The assignment seemed easy enough, however. _If I could make fast $100 off of this, I could come back for another job. $100 should be enough for my next payment. With bartending, I could probably make some of these jobs work. _She squeezed her eyes tightly and twirled her hair, a nervous tick she had picked up when she was a kid. Her head was spinning from trying to figure out a way that financials would work out in her favor. _God, I would give anything for a nap right now._ Jellal had apparently gone back to typing furiously at his computer while she was roaming her thoughts. Lucy frowned. Maybe she could bargain? "Hey, I know I should probably just talk to the client directly, but... off the bat, do you think he could do any better than $10 per intel? Did he- or, I guess, she- seem like the type willing to pay more? Or like they would stick to their price? I mean, like, I can work with $10, I'm not trying to seem ungrateful, but it would just be nice to know, you know? But you don't have to tell me if you don't know!"

If Lucy's awkward rambling wasn't enough to flare her cheeks bright red, the way her interviewer stopped typing and looked at her straight on definitely was. For the first time since she had walked into his office, introduced herself, answered his questions, and had the last 10 minutes of conversation, this was the first time he had actually placed his full attention on her. And he was looking at her like she had just spontaneously combusted or sprouted three heads.

When he erupted into a full fit of laughter the next moment, Lucy's blush spread furiously down to her neck and chest. Her face was so warm that she felt small beads of sweat begin to make their way down the back of her neck. _I am such a fucking idiot. Why would I even think to ask that? I'm so stupid. I've legitimately fucked up any chances I had of building a rapport here. I want to die right now._ _Jesus._

"I think you misunderstood me," he was still cackling through his sentence, but his speaking, at the very least, effectively cut her off from her speedy train of self-chastising and self-deprecating.

"What do you mean?" Lucy mumbled embarrassedly, quickly swiping a hand across her forehead to slick some of the pearls of sweat off when he lowered his head in his hands to compose himself.

"I meant," he coughed through the last few fits of laughs before clearing his throat, "I meant 10 grand."

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The moment Lucy had walked out of the office and gotten into her car, she burst into tears. Whether they were tears of gratitude or of pure shock, she couldn't decipher. She had not stopped shaking since saying goodbye and placing the laminated piece of paper into her purse. With trembling hands, she decided it was time to give a thank-you call. As she clicked the memorized numbers rapidly into her keypad, she tried to calm herself, breathing in and out through her hiccups and blowing out her running nose into a napkin that she had received with her coffee earlier.

The phone rang twice before a voice chirped, "Hey! What's up? How did it go?"

Hearing the happy voice of her best friend just brought another wave of thankfulness over Lucy. Her lips trembled as she wailed into the phone, "LEVY!"

"Lucy?! Why are you crying? Is everything okay?!" The blunette on the other end of the line frantically brought her hand to her heart as she thought of horrible possible reasons for her friend's tears, "Did you not get the job?!" Levy's eyes then glazed over with gloom as he hand fell from her heart and clenched, her voice quiet, "Is it your-"

"Levy!" Lucy interrupted her before she could finish her thought. Lucy had gathered enough composure to piece a sentence together through chortles and sobs, "I could literally kiss Gajeel right now. I have-" Lucy had to take another deep breath before she could continue, stuck among wanting to caterwaul and jump and laugh, "I cannot believe he hooked me up with this job."

Levy's whole form relaxed, her tense shoulders moving down without her knowing that they had been raised up in the first place. She giggled, "Don't say any more. Let's meet for a drink at Strauss and celebrate, okay?"

It would be 20 minutes before Lucy, Levy, and Gajeel were gathered at a small booth at one of the most popular restaurant bars in town. The aroma wafting from the kitchen brought Lucy's happy mood up tenfold, and the trio ordered drinks from Lisanna, a part owner and waitress of the bar, before starting in with the story of how Lucy's interview went.

"I am_ contractually obligated_ not to reveal too much," Lucy's eyebrows wiggled when she described her loyalties, feeling that such finalities made the lucrative job seem all the more official, "But essentially I'm being paid to do a little bit of investigative journalism. Literally what I do best!" Lucy gleefully clutched the table and bounced in her place before sobering up some, "Maybe with a little less morally sound methods. My interviewer, I'm assuming you're familiar with Jellal, Gajeel? Anyway, my interviewer explained that I could plainly do anything to obtain what I need."

"What you _need?_" Levy sipped at her Blue Hawaiian, "You sound like a character in a James Bond movie."

Lucy playfully made finger guns, making Levy laugh, "Maybe I am!" Lucy's eyes were twinkling with delight.

The only person who didn't seem to be partaking in the joyful atmosphere was Gajeel. When his girlfriend lightly nudged him, he looked down at her. He hadn't even realized he'd been so deep in thought until he was almost startled out of his stupor. His red eyes then flitted over to Lucy, who seemed so wrapped up in her own happiness that she hadn't even thought ahead.

Gajeel took a generous swig from his whiskey before slamming it back down on the table, "Bunny girl," he smirked slightly as Lucy grimaced over the nickname, "I'm sure whatever they're paying you is enough to have you preoccupied, but you gotta promise me you'll think with your head with this shit. These jobs can go real bad real fast."

Feeling annoyed at his unwarranted worry for her and by his petname for her, and slightly ballsy from her previous success of securing the job and the downing of her Strawberry Vodka, she shot back, "Firstly, I'm not some clueless kid. I can handle this. The job isn't even dangerous, it's an extension of what I've been doing for years. Besides," her eyes shot daggers at him, "why would you suggest me this place if you think I _can't _handle it? You're the one who told me about it!"

Gajeel's eyes moved down towards his girlfriend's again. _Because I know you need the money. __Desperately._ As if Levy could read his mind, her lips pressed into a tight line and her eyes shifted away from his, not wanting to agree with his unspoken words. "All I'm saying is that you need to watch out. That place is ruthless, and even the easy jobs aren't always as simple as they seem. Just don't let yourself get taken advantage of, and think about the severity of anything you're doing before you do it," he reiterated, "I'm just sayin'."

If Lucy was being honest with herself, she only snapped at him because she knew he had a point. Before he got his mechanic business up and going, it was really hard for Gajeel to get jobs with his intense, scary aura and extensively pierced body. To fill the gap between normal jobs, Gajeel would often take jobs at Fairy Tail and come home with stories to tell Levy about when the job was done and he was no longer obligated to keep such a tight lip. Even with the little amount he was allowed to reveal about what he did post-job, Levy was constantly worried about him and his safety.

Lucy sighed. She didn't want to be the one to make her friends worry. As the conversation moved on to other less controversial topics, she couldn't help her mind from wandering back to the last few moments of her meeting with Jellal.

_"Are- are you serious?" Lucy sputtered. She couldn't believe her ears- if what she was hearing _was _correct, she was damn glad she prompted him to grab the laminated job that he hadn't suggested before her questioning._

_"As a heart attack," Jellal seemed more willing to joke around after her fumbling misunderstanding earlier._

_Lucy gulped. This was her saving grace. She just had to cozy up to a subject her age, find out some petty information about him, and then buy her way out of debt. This job was a fucking miracle. She would have to remember to thank Gajeel later._

_While Jellal shuffled the original proposed manilla folders back into his cabinet, Lucy decide to inquire something that was nagging at her, "I have to ask then. And before I do, to be clear, I'm taking the job regardless. But consider it curiosity... you said that this job has been up in the air for a while. But I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't jump at the opportunity to make this much money. What's the deal?"_

_Jellal eyebrows raised as he sat back down. He cracked his neck as his eyes zeroed in on her, "Have you never heard of the name Natsu Dragneel?"_

_Lucy shook her head in reply. She hadn't really glanced at the paper properly and couldn't remember who was who, "Is the client famous or something?"_

_"No," Jellal shook his head as he dryly laughed, "The subject is. Not conventionally, but in this line of work. Most of our workers want to stay under the radar. This isn't exactly respectable work," Lucy's face burned at the part. His tone seemed condescending. "Plus, he's also known for being somewhat troublesome."_

_His tone seemed decidedly final, and Lucy figured she wouldn't get much more out of him than that. _That's fine, _she thought to herself, _it's my job to find stuff out about him now anyway.

_Jellal then turned back to his computer before clicking a couple of buttons and turning his head towards the printer __expectedly, "Pass me that, will you?" His hand shot out, waiting, as his eyes stayed trained to the screen. Lucy nodded before turning to the printer behind her and placing the papers that came out in his hand. When he pulled his stapler out, he finally looked to her again._

_"All the information you'll need to start the job is on that paper. You already saw the client's contact information. Email him if you have questions," Lucy wanted to giggle at the fact that a shady business like Fairy Tail had suggested something as mundane as emailing, but something about the look in her interviewer's eyes told her the amused and light atmosphere from before was long gone._

_"The last thing you'll need to do is sign this contract. It stipulates the terms of trade -money for information-, the expectations of the client, stuff like that. It's all subject to change." Jellal's eyes flashed with some malicious intent behind them, as if his next words were spoken with an invisible knife to her throat, "Once you take this job, there is no backing out. You will finish it to the client's satisfaction," and within those moments it was gone, Jellal's eyes already off her again, straightening miscellaneous items within his work space. Lucy felt nerves electrifying her again._ Should I not take this offer? I haven't even read any of the pages yet. And doing something like this isn't like me.

_"Also, last thing- the ending of the contract gets pretty confusing, so I'd like to clear it up for you. Essentially, if you finish the job, there is a cash-paid guarantee."_

_Lucy's brows drew in towards each other again, "What does that mean?"_

_Jellal casually moved some more things on his desk as he lazily spoke, "If you finish the job with all of the client's requests answered, you're guaranteed a $50,000 bonus."_

_And just like that, Lucy's pen was to paper. No questions asked._

Really, how bad could the job be?

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**A/N: Honestly, I haven't been on this site in forever. But i wanted to try my hand at writing again. I reread some of my other stories, and I wrote them when I was so young, I just can't even think about where I'd begin to rewrite them if I started. So, instead, I started something new. Stupid, yes. Fun, also yes.**

**Please let me know if you guys like it. I haven't written on here in years! I literally forgot how to use the Doc Manager, lmao. But, yes, please let me know if you guys like it!**

**Also, suggestions? thoughts on what might happen? did I make the characters seem true enough to their originals so far? Any idea why Lucky Lucy is so unlucky? I love reading theories the most!**

**With love, **

**C&C**


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